Genetics News and Research

Latest Genetics News and Research

Link between hyperglycemia (high blood glucose), overexpression of PKC-beta 2 and kidney disease

Scientists at Joslin Diabetes Center have investigated PKC-beta -- a critical enzyme implicated in the devastating complications of type 1 and type 2 diabetes -- for more than two decades.

10 Jun 2005

If a dividing cell's activity is a pop song, then the same process in an immune cell is an extended-play dance remix

The basics of cell division are the same in both, but there's a heck of a lot more going on in immune cells, Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered.

10 Jun 2005

First clues as to why stem cells ignore stop signs in the cell cycle

Everyone knows that stem cells are controversial. Many people know that stem cells can grow into virtually any cell type found in the body, from a red blood cell to a muscle cell to a brain cell. But no one really knows why stem cells continue to divide and renew themselves long after the point where other cells stop dividing.

10 Jun 2005

Finding could provide targets for diagnosis, prognosis, therapy of prostate cancer

Researchers led by Dr. Shiv Srivastava from the Center for Prostate Disease Research (CPDR), Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU), report the groundbreaking discovery of the ETS-Related Gene (ERG) as one of the frequent proto-oncogene overexpressions in prostate cancer cells.

10 Jun 2005

Researchers use RNAi libraries to identify regulators of apoptosis and chemoresistance

Using targeted RNA interference, or RNAi libraries, researchers at Harvard Medical School describe the first large-scale classification of kinase and phosphatase gene families on the basis of their role in apoptosis and cell survival. This study appears in the June issue of Nature Cell Biology.

10 Jun 2005

DNA discovery may help explain disorders such as autism

Researchers have made a discovery that may in future help to explain many aspects of human social behavior and disorders such as autism.

10 Jun 2005

Experimental drug works best in combination with older remedy for Alzheimer's disease and other dementias

An experimental drug combined with an already-popular memory-enhancing compound may further delay memory loss in patients with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, Johns Hopkins University scientists, in collaboration with researchers from University of North Carolina, have found.

9 Jun 2005

Variations in genetic code affect social behavior

Why are some people shy while others are outgoing? A study in the current issue of Science demonstrates for the first time that social behavior may be shaped by differences in the length of seemingly non-functional DNA, sometimes referred to as junk DNA.

9 Jun 2005

Accumulation of genetic changes is not solely determined by natural selection

New data suggest that the accumulation of genetic changes is not solely determined by natural selection. A study by University of Chicago researchers contradicts conventional theory by showing that the percentage of mutations accepted in evolution is also strongly swayed by the speed at which new mutations arrive at a gene: the faster the speed of new mutations, the greater the percentage of those mutations accepted.

9 Jun 2005

Study of glial cells in the roundworm C. elegans may provide insight into a variety of human brain diseases

The key to understanding our brains may lie within a one-millimeter long worm, new research from Rockefeller University indicates. Reporting in the June issue of Developmental Cell, Shai Shaham, Ph.D., and graduate student Elliot Perens use the roundworm, C. elegans, to investigate the mysterious glial cell, which makes up 90 percent of the human brain and, when it malfunctions, can contribute to diseases like Parkinson's disease and schizophrenia.

9 Jun 2005

Exposing SMA-affected cells to aminoglycoside drugs can increase SMN

MDA grantee Christian Lorson at the University of Missouri was on a team that found that exposing cells carrying a mutation that causes spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) to drugs in the aminoglycoside family helps them produce more of the needed SMN protein, a lack of which leads to SMA.

9 Jun 2005

MicroRNAs play an important role in human cancer

Over the past few years, scientists have discovered that a new class of genetic regulators called "microRNAs" influences normal human growth and development. Now, researchers have found that microRNAs also play an important role in human cancer. The findings are published in today's issue of the journal Nature (June 9).

9 Jun 2005

New study shows tiny RNAs intimately associated with cancer

In discoveries that may open a new chapter in understanding and diagnosing cancer, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigators and their colleagues have established that tiny microRNAs provide a novel genetic route to the initiation of some forms of cancer.

9 Jun 2005

Researchers link aberrant 'microRNA' expression to human cancer

8 Jun 2005

Canada's first two human embryonic stem cell lines

A senior scientist at Mount Sinai Hospital has developed Canada's first two human embryonic stem cell lines, giving researchers across the country new potential and hope for eventually discovering treatments and cures for many chronic and fatal diseases.

8 Jun 2005

New understanding of microRNAs

Ribonucleic acid, or RNA, has long been thought to be important only to translate a gene's DNA into the proteins that are cells' workhorses. But new evidence shows that tiny bits of RNA not used to make proteins actually play central roles in normal biology and in the development of cancers.

8 Jun 2005

Study is the first to identify involvement of chromosome 21 in developmental regression autism

A new Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center study links regions of two chromosomes to susceptibility for a type of autism characterized by regression in development. Developmental regression can include the loss of previously acquired language, social skills or both.

8 Jun 2005

New bioinformatics technique for systematically analyzing key regions in DNA that help control gene activity

Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the Linnaeus Centre for Bioinformatics (LCB) at Uppsala University in Sweden have developed a new bioinformatics technique for systematically analyzing key regions in DNA that help control gene activity.

8 Jun 2005

Diversity of HLA genotypes in humans is shaped to a significant degree by pathogens

The great physical diversity that evolution has forged in human beings is in evidence wherever we look, but the genes exhibiting the greatest diversity at the DNA level happen to function in a wholly invisible process: immunity. Genes encoding the Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) proteins are among the most diverse in the human genome, and scientists have proposed a number of hypotheses to explain why.

6 Jun 2005

New dopamine transporter gene findings may be relevant for substance abuse, tobacco smoking, and ADHD

Confirming findings in a previous study, Yale researchers observed an altered availability of the dopamine transporter in healthy persons with a genetic variation linked to substance abuse and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

6 Jun 2005

Genetics News and Research

Latest Genetics News and Research

Link between hyperglycemia (high blood glucose), overexpression of PKC-beta 2 and kidney disease

If a dividing cell's activity is a pop song, then the same process in an immune cell is an extended-play dance remix

First clues as to why stem cells ignore stop signs in the cell cycle

Finding could provide targets for diagnosis, prognosis, therapy of prostate cancer

Researchers use RNAi libraries to identify regulators of apoptosis and chemoresistance

DNA discovery may help explain disorders such as autism

Experimental drug works best in combination with older remedy for Alzheimer's disease and other dementias

Variations in genetic code affect social behavior

Accumulation of genetic changes is not solely determined by natural selection

Study of glial cells in the roundworm C. elegans may provide insight into a variety of human brain diseases

Exposing SMA-affected cells to aminoglycoside drugs can increase SMN

MicroRNAs play an important role in human cancer

New study shows tiny RNAs intimately associated with cancer

Researchers link aberrant 'microRNA' expression to human cancer

Canada's first two human embryonic stem cell lines

New understanding of microRNAs

Study is the first to identify involvement of chromosome 21 in developmental regression autism

New bioinformatics technique for systematically analyzing key regions in DNA that help control gene activity

Diversity of HLA genotypes in humans is shaped to a significant degree by pathogens

New dopamine transporter gene findings may be relevant for substance abuse, tobacco smoking, and ADHD

Genetics & Genomics - Second Edition eBook

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Examining how pain could play a direct protective role in the gut